


Sooner or Later

by ashisfriendly



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, First Kiss, Mistletoe, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 10:45:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly/pseuds/ashisfriendly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Here was the prompt: Maybe a Betsy/Jeremy kiss under the mistletoe Mindy put up around the office?!?</p><p>Merry Christmas!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sooner or Later

**Author's Note:**

  * For [author_abz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/author_abz/gifts).



He really didn’t mind Mindy’s Christmas spirit. Really, her insistence on wearing Christmas sweaters and the tacky tinsel were fun. 

But the mistletoe? Was that entirely necessary?

“You just never know,” Mindy said. “What if Liam Hemsworth came in here? We could create a series of events that led him to the mistletoe and then - BAM - we’d be married and have cute, scowling babies.” 

Mindy smiled, jumping down from the step stool. She smoothed out her sweater, tapping Danny with her pen before she walked into her office.

“Mistletoe is scary,” Betsy said.

Jeremy turned around, his heart already moving faster at the sound of her voice. She was grimacing, her curls framing her cute, scrunched face. He shouldn’t engage her, he should really just walk back into his office and be as far away from the mistletoe as possible. But he hardly ever did anything he should, that’s how he gained 40 pounds.

“Oh, it’s just harmless fun,” he said. 

And now he was leaning on the reception desk. Hopeless, really.

“One time, in eighth grade, during a Christmas party, Chaz Minton dragged me to the mistletoe that someone hung up and then proceeded to kiss me.” Betsy’s eyes shut tight at the memory. She shook her head, her curls going everywhere, skewing the reindeer antler headband she was wearing. “He tasted like Gatorade and Cheetos.”

Her tongue stuck out of her mouth, her nose crinkling. Was that light always right above her? She looked like she was a Christmas angel who had a rotten cup of eggnog. 

He needed to get a grip.

“Okay, I have to go, lots of patients.” He hit the counter, probably too hard, and walked into his office, going around the reception desk to avoid the mistletoe. 

Jeremy wouldn’t go near the mistletoe for days. He stayed in his office, he took all communication with Betsy by phone, he ate his salads in his office. He stuck his head out of his door to call in patients. He was doing great, not only was he avoiding all the Christmas treats coming in every day, but he was avoiding the mistletoe perfectly. He could forget about the cute outfits Betsy was wearing, her different cheap Christmas themed jewelry and hair accessories. 

But he couldn’t get rid of her smell, the sweet vanilla, sugary goodness that filled his nose as he walked into the office every day. Why was she there so early, why was she perfectly punctual? Cute and efficient, one of the most responsible members of the staff. And her laugh. He could hear it through his door, loud and clumsy without remorse. He was never one of those guys who went on and on about a woman’s laugh or her responsibility or much more than her legs (he was such a leg man and Betsy, she was so short but her legs, her legs were still amazing). Everything about her was.

Jeremy stepped into the elevator and leaned against the back wall as the doors slid shut. He hit his head on the wall over and over. He needed to really get a grip. This was ridiculous. Betsy and him shouldn’t be together. He was an unstable sugar addict and she was a naive, receptionist… who was so clever, cute, and when she smiled his stomach felt so full, like he didn’t need to eat another bite as long as he could see her sparkling eyes and silly sweaters and push her feathery hair behind her ear and—

Fuck.

He wasn’t paying attention, he lost his plan somewhere from the elevator to the door because now he was staring at Betsy, by Mindy’s office, reading over some papers. She didn’t even look up as he walked in. She was biting her bottom lip, a beautiful light pink under the bright white of her teeth. Her hair was down and curlier than usual and she was wearing one of those stupid Santa hats that are really just a red spiral wire with a ball on top. Right above the fuzzy ball was the mistletoe. Dangling there like a terrible offer, like a jelly donut on top of a mound of pudding. With hundreds of cans of root beer and Red Vines. 

And Betsy was just herself, smelling like cake and looking like heaven.

Jeremy was goner, he wasn’t a strong man. He had buried himself under sweets and fattening foods and now he was going to be swallowed by his infatuation for Betsy. 

Oh no, he was going to kiss Betsy under the stupid mistletoe while she was wearing that terrible hat that really didn’t resemble anything Santa ever wore and —

He was moving. Betsy finally looked at him, her eyes growing with each step he took.

“Dr. Reed—“

He grabbed the paper out of her hands, a paper cut slicing across his palm before he threw it to the floor. It didn’t matter, warmth spread across his hand as he cupped her face. She said his name again, quieter this time and with a tremble of nerves. Her eyes fluttered closed like she imagined this moment. Had she?

He didn’t have time to wonder because she pushed on her toes and their lips connected.

Betsy was as soft as he imagined. Her lips were shy and delicate and he had to tangle his fingers in her hair to keep form pushing against her mouth, from separating her lips. He concentrated on her breathing, the soft tangle of her hair, and the light note of peppermint on her lips. Her hand found the nape of his neck and she sighed, such a beautiful, pretty sound and he knew he could push.

He did, her back hitting the wall and her mouth opening to let him in. Her hands became wild and her nails dug into his skin. She was fast and a little clumsy but damn if it didn’t fuel him. She was like the glorious plate of donuts and he was himself, drawn to her and craving her even though she was already his.

“Oh my GOD.”

They sprang a part, Betsy hitting her head on the wall and Jeremy knocking over a sparkly plastic Christmas tree off the reception counter. Jeremy put a hand on his chest as if it would steady his heartbeat and looked to the front door. 

Mindy was holding her phone out, the camera pointed at them. Betsy started to pick up the papers on the floor and Jeremy just hid his face behind his hand.

“This is amazing.”

“Mindy, it’s—“

“No, this… wow, I just knew. I knew something was going on. I told Danny that—“

“Mindy, stop.”

“Let me say this otherwise I will literally explode.” 

Jeremy put his head down, his vision a bit blurred as he watched Betsy pick up the papers. He should help her, he made the mess, he kissed her, but she was so flustered, he would probably only make it worse. Mindy kept going on about Jeremy and Betsy’s future wedding and how they should go to the Bahamas for their honeymoon and they should name their child Chester (Chester?) but soon Jeremy wasn’t listening. He was pretending not to watch Betsy move back behind the reception desk, pretending not to notice the pink color of her cheeks and the swollen red of her lips. 

“Most of all, I have to be maid of honor.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes and turned his head to Mindy. “We would elope.”

Mindy gasped and Betsy’s head snapped up to him but he was still pretending not be looking at her. 

“And take the mistletoe down, if you please.”

He kept his eyes down as he stormed to his office. 

He avoided the mistletoe for weeks, he could wait eight more hours to kiss her again, just because he wanted to, not because a stupid plant told him to.


End file.
